Sounds Around Town: On New Year's Eve

By Peter Watrous

Published: December 29, 1995

Here are choices by pop critics of The New York Times of New Year's Eve celebrations that were not sold out at press time. (An introduction appears on page C1.)

Jazz Born to the Trumpet

Roy Hargrove. Iridium, 44 West 63d Street, Manhattan, (212) 582-2121. He's a brawny but sure-footed trumpeter, one of the few musicians of a young and gifted generation who is genuinely a natural, born to his art. His shows recently suggest a desire to stretch, and his greatest moments almost always come past the midnight hour. Roy Hargrove will be there with his quintet; the first show, which starts at 7:30 P.M., includes dinner and champagne for $79. The second show, $165, which starts at 11 P.M., includes dinner, champagne, dancing and a bagel buffet. Upstairs, for the same price and starting at 8:30 P.M., one gets the same treatment, but with music supplied by the George Gee Orchestra. PETER WATROUS

New Orleans Tradition

Michael White's Original Liberty Jazz Band of New Orleans. Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 255-4037. The clarinetist Michael White is now a tradition (he's spent the last four New Year's Eves at the Vanguard), and his shows always balance a rocking time with a bit of education. Mr. White's bands provide New Orleans-style polyphony at its best, the pistons of its particular engine rising and falling, the melodies bending under the weight of a playful tradition and the sheer exhilaration of the imagination unleashed. He's a virtuoso player himself, with a nasty, dirty sound, and all the audacity and balance to make it listenable. There are three shows, at 9:30 and 11:30 P.M. and 1 A.M. The cover is $50 for the first two shows, with a $25 minimum; the 1 A.M. show is $15 with a $10 minimum. Party favors and hors d'oeuvres in the New Orleans style are included. P. W.

Group Improvisation

John Hicks. Bradley's, 70 University Place, between 10th and 11th Streets, Greenwich Village, (212) 228-6440. John Hicks is about as fecund a pianist as jazz has; his improvisations seem unstoppable, and once his ball gets rolling, idea after idea comes off the piano and quickly vanishes under the next one. He'll be joined by Victor Lewis, one of jazz's best drummers, and the bassist Curtis Lundy. They know each other: virtually every set will be firing at the highest levels of group improvisation, and there's no better club to hear their form of communication. The show starts at 9 P.M.; $115 includes dinner and champagne. After 1 A.M. there is a $20 cover and a $20 minimum. And at 9 P.M., at the bar, there is a $25 cover and a $25 minimum, which includes a champagne toast. P. W.

Sax and Song

David Sanborn; Nancy Wilson. Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 475-8592. It's the collective sound of smooth. David Sanborn, a technically gifted saxophonist and improviser, has made a good living playing instrumental pop music overlaid with jazz and rhythm-and-blues solos. Nancy Wilson, once one of jazz's most distinctive singers, plays soft pop too, though she's using a strong jazz trio for this engagement. But they can both do just about anything musically, and at their best they know how to make one note sing and sum up a world full of meaning. The first show starts at 7 P.M. and goes until 12:30 A.M.; it is $180 at a table and $80 at the bar. The second show starts at 1 A.M. and costs $100 at the tables and $50 at the bar. The prices include music, a champagne toast, party favors, hats and noisemakers. P. W.

The Limits of the Idiom

Abraham Burton. Visiones, 125 Macdougal Street, at Third Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 673-5576. Abraham Burton, a young alto saxophonist who is best known for his stay in the drummer Art Taylor's group, hasn't been well represented on recordings. He's an improviser whose solos build and build till they break down into wildness. He's a student of the John Coltrane quartet, and at his most exciting he can make a room shake. He's interested in the limits of the jazz idiom, the edges, and his trip from conventional, mainstream playing to the far reaches of harmony and rhythm is a journey worth studying. A special all-night ticket ($110) includes three shows, party favors, a champagne toast and a five-course dinner. For $85, one gets all three shows, and two drinks, but no dinner. P. W.

Invitation to the Raucous

Nat Adderley. Sweet Basil, 88 Seventh Avenue South, between 10th and 11th Streets, Greenwich Village, (212) 242-1785. Working bands are almost always more interactive than pickup groups; they're after a certain type of intensity that most bands can't generate. Nat Adderley has a new alto saxophonist in the front line, the incendiary Antonio Hart, and his bluesy repertory is an invitation to raucous, rough improvisation. The bassist Walter Booker and the drummer Jimmy Cobb have seen more than 40 years of jazz history and been a good part of it, too. For $150, one receives dinner, a champagne toast, party favors and music; the show starts at 9 P.M. The late show, which starts at 1 A.M., costs $40; there is a $25 minimum. P. W.